By Pamela E. Barnett
The Presidential election is next Tuesday, which means many of us will spend the rest of the month obsessively analyzing the victor’s path and reading informed accounts about what the future could hold.
I hope some of us will take a break from the exhausting news cycle and turn to the arts, which are exactly what we all need in the wake of this highly polarizing and divisive campaign and election season. Artistic experience affirms and expands our humanity. Art connects us.
We need that now more than ever. In an “Arts Talk” for the National Endowment for the Arts, singer and composer Josh Groban made the case that “art matters because it is a hate-killer. Art matters because it is the one true great connector in a world that seems to be very unconnected, and it’s important now more than ever to shine a huge light on that connectivity that we have, that we often forget.”
Art enriches, deepens and elevates all of us. When we truly engage the expression of others – their words and stories, their images and designs and music – we are giving our own consciousness over to the experience, perspective and vision of others. We can feel connection and empathy for people from other nations or other cultural backgrounds. Anyone who has watched a Greek tragedy in horror or sung along to an early American hymn or spiritual knows how art can enable us to connect with others across the very ages.
As NEA staffer Victoria Hutter put it: “The arts matter because I learn something about people and places I would have never known otherwise. The arts make my brain and my heart stretch to make room for newness. Sometimes, parts of me are displaced and replaced by wiser stuff. And that’s a fine thing.”
In the aftermath of this election, art and music can affirm our common humanity, beyond political partisanship. And to go a step farther, I want to direct attention to two specific works that inspire feeling about American democracy: Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” and Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait.”
We don’t always think of the orchestra as the place to go for national unity, but here is why we can and should.
Dvorak was a Czech composer who studied American folk songs during his time in the U.S., from 1892 to 1895. “From the New World” was his endeavor to write a truly American symphony. Dvorak said his classical orchestration incorporates “the spirit” of both African American spirituals and Native American folk music as a way to express the richness of the North American story after the Civil War. His symphony also captures the beauty and expansiveness of vistas in the American Midwest. Astronaut Neil Armstrong took a recording of the symphony to the moon, making it a soundtrack for his “giant leap for mankind.”
The Lincoln Portrait (1942) was commissioned at a time of national crisis; on Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked and the U.S. mobilized to enter World War II. Copland was commissioned to “celebrate the spirit of the American people.” This orchestra seeks to convey the character of the Great Unifier, and also inspire great feeling about the preservation of the union, with liberty for all. It includes narration from Lincoln’s famous speeches addressing war, freedom, nation and democracy.
In the days before and after the election, you can type these orchestral works into your preferred music streaming service. You could also hear them performed live at The College of New Jersey on November 8, three days after the election.
Conductor Uli Speth shares the rationale behind this repertoire: “Both pieces celebrate American history and American culture in a way that all citizens can feel good about, regardless of their backgrounds or political views. After a time filled with divisive rhetoric this will hopefully make everyone feel that they belong to the same country.”
We should all be looking for ways to heal our country, and that includes opting out of disrespect and denigration of fellow citizens who voted differently. Art can lead the way. After all of the partisan battle and divisive rhetoric, art calls us to feel our shared humanity and even our common love for American democracy.
Pamela E. Barnett is Dean of The School of the Arts & Communication at The College of New Jersey.
To comment on this op-ed, send a letter to eletters@starledger.com.
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.
